Sometime’s a band’s name is enough to draw me out to see them live, as was the case with Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.  The group consists of five members, Shaun Libman, Luke Smith, David Price, Claire England, and Liam Downey Jr. Libman & Price are the main vocalists, however England & Libman provide some back-up vocals. There is a guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards & drum machines and other percussion instruments. NPSH, originally from Seattle, WA released their debut album in 2008. The band was formed by Smith & Libman because they wanted to “Get Girlfriends,” and they wrote their first songs about “fruit snacks and partying.”

It is suspicious when a group of people get together to form a band with such blatant, non-artistic/talent based motives. I had listened to a few of their songs before I saw the show and quickly got the impression that it was one of those joke bands turned real. Their live performance was pretty weak, pretty generic, and lacking in talent. The two front men waited for a few measures of the show before making their entrance by coming through the crowd and taking the stage. However it did not produce the desired effect, instead it was awkward and sloppy. The crowd was small, but the people were into & dancing. However the front man kept telling everyone to “come closer” “put your hands together,” etc. This is a huge pet peeve of mine, especially coming from a guy who doesn’t look old enough to be at the Casbah (the same could also be said for the rest of the band).

All in All, it was very underwhelming.  The beats were generic, with lyrics like “Watching me watching you,” borrowed a little too closely from Abba, and the vocal were borderline unbearable. The 2 front men went to a school for performing arts, but it seems like they never took any voice lessons. The whole thing was too much gimmick and too little talent. Sure the name of the band is funny, but it’s just not funny enough.